More than a Lima Loser
by starflake12
Summary: Puck doesn't want to hold Quinn's purse on the red carpet.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** More than a Lima Loser  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 1,002  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Puck, Quinn, appearances by the New Directions  
><strong>Pairing(s): <strong>past Puck/Quinn  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Friendship  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K+ for now?  
><strong>Warnings: <strong>Unbetaed, feel free to correct any grammatical or syntactical errors  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Puck doesn't want to hold Quinn's purse on the red carpet  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> umm, up to and including 3x12, just to be safe?

**Author's Note:** I'm not sure if this is a one shot or if I want to continue and make it a chapter story, for now I want to leave it where it is. If I do continue this, though, it'll only be Puck/Kurt, and possibly Quinn/Santana, as I've recently started shipping them. Anyway, if I get hit with inspiration, then I'll write more. The episodes just make me sad, so I constantly feel the need to make my favorite characters happier.

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine.

* * *

><p>There they were sitting next to each other on a plane heading to Connecticut. Quinn was going to Yale to follow her dreams and Puck was, well, Puck was following Quinn. He frowned momentarily at the thought before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he breathed out, he felt a hand in his. He opened his eyes to see Quinn interlacing her fingers with his.<p>

"Are you okay," she asked with a smile and a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"I'm fine," he gruffed.

She sighed to herself. She knew why she was going to Yale and she knew exactly why Puck was going with her, but he wasn't going to talk to her until he was good and ready to, so she kept her mouth shut and changed the subject, filing away her worry for later.

"Do you think she meant it this time?"

"I don't know."

It was the truth. He didn't know what was going through Shelby's mind. She gave up on the dreams she had for her career to focus on Beth and came charging back into their lives like a battering ram. Her initial intentions were great. They'd get to be involved in Beth's life and still be kids. They'd get to focus on school without feeling like there was something missing in their lives. Then, Puck had to ruin everything.

"Hey, stop that! I told you, that wasn't your fault!"

He grunted in response.

"It wasn't! She just wanted us to realize we weren't old enough to take care of a child," Quinn choked out. She always got choked up when thinking about Beth. It was one of the things Puck would always love about her.

"It's true," Quinn continued, "She told me right before she left."

Puck snorted out a humorless laugh. She did leave. She didn't bother to stop and think about how hard it was for them to give up their child the first time around. No, she took their child and left, leaving them feeling just as empty as they did the first time. Then, they get matching emails asking if they'd like to 'be a part of the family.' They're angry, of course. They're tired of being jerked around, and they know they're taking a huge risk by agreeing, but it's the only way they get to see their kid. He can remember the conversation too.

_*Flashback*_

_They're sitting in the choir room not saying anything until Puck interrupts the silence. _

"_What do you want to do?"_

"_I'm going to Yale in the fall. I want," she sighed before continuing, "I want you to come with me."_

_He looked up at her in shock. _

"_I can't do that."_

"_Yes, you can Puck! You don't have plans after graduation, and by coming with me, you get to be closer to Beth," she sniffles._

_He sighs, "Quinn, we don't work together—"_

"_I know that," she interrupts him._

"_Pu—Noah, I know that! We're awful as a couple," she laughs before continuing, "But, you're my best friend. You were there for me when no one else was."_

_He rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to tell her that everyone else had noticed just how far off the deep end she had gone, when she continues as if she wasn't interrupted in the first place._

"_AND, if you'll let me I'd like to return the favor. You have so much potential, and I know you are meant for better things. I'll be there by your side while you figure out what they are."_

_He rolls his eyes again, even though it's a nice feeling – knowing that someone besides Mr. Schue believes in him._

"_Is this a bad idea," he asks in reference to Shelby's email. _

"_Probably," she replies, "She keeps jerking Rachel around. She's probably doing the same thing to us."_

"_How long do you think before she takes off on us again?"_

"_I don't know, but I talked to Mr. Schue, and he said to be careful. In the end it's our decision, but—"_

"_Yeah, I know, I talked to him too," he confesses. She smiles at him before asking again one more time._

"_So, you headed northeast with me or what?"_

_The rest of the gang files in two at a time, and Puck can't help but feel a sense of loneliness overcome him as he watches Santana and Brittany dancing in with their pinkies linked, and Blaine and Kurt mimicking their moves. He notices Finn stroll in with Rachel on his back, and Mike and Tina trailing behind them in a similar fashion. Sam and Mercedes are holding hands and have big smiles on their faces as they traipse in through the doorway. Artie rolls in with Sugar in his lap, and Rory and Sam are right behind them exchanging jokes and high fives. Puck watches as he realizes everyone else has someone that cares and he doesn't. He looks up at Quinn who has a sad smile on her face, and realizes that she knows exactly what he's thinking, and he hates how she does that, but in this case, he appreciates it. _

"_Okay," he says._

_*Flashback*_

"I'm not that guy, am I?"

Quinn smiles at the fact that didn't have to beat him over the head with a stick to get him to talk, she would have done it, but she likes it when he makes things easier on her.

"No, you're not."

"You're sure, right? It's not like Kurt said to Finn? I'm not just going to end up holding your purse on the red carpet," he asks as he looks away from their hands and into her eyes. He squeezes her hand a little tighter.

"Of course you're not! Puck, I told you, you'll figure out the next step eventually," she exclaims as she squeezes his hand right back.

He sighs, "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

He fidgets in his seat until he's comfortable as they wait for the flight to land.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** More than a Lima Loser  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 1,460  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Puck, Quinn, Shelby  
><strong>Pairing(s): <strong>past Puck/Quinn past Shelby/Puck  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Friendship  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K+ for now? (I don't know how to write _those_ scenes, so if you're looking for porn, you've come to the wrong place.)  
><strong>Warnings: <strong>Unbetaed, feel free to correct any grammatical or syntactical errors  
><strong>Summary:<strong> This is their weird messed up family now.  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> umm, up to and including 3x12, just to be safe?

**Author's Note: **I guess this turned out to be more than a one shot. Inspiration struck. I'm trying to see if I can get all my ships in before canon ruins everything about my fic. Like I said before, I ship weird couples, so if that's not your cup of tea, then don't complain when they show up later. I forewarned who they were.

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine.

* * *

><p>It's awkward. He's standing in the doorway next to Quinn, who is staring at Shelby with a wary expression on her face. Quinn glances between Puck and Shelby before taking a step forward.<p>

"We want," Quinn pauses for a moment before she figures out what she wants to say, "What I mean is, we want to say 'thank you,' you know, for giving us a second chance?" She doesn't know why it came out as a question, but it did, which just serves to make her nervous. She looks back at Puck and sees that blank stare on his face, which she's managed to figure out means he's pretty pissed about something. She gets it, she really does: They gave this woman their child and she offered to let them be a part of her family, and then she broke their hearts by taking their child away again. But, Quinn loves Beth more than anything, and she knows Puck does too because otherwise, they wouldn't be here trying to figure out how to make this work.

Shelby looks at the two of them before stating once again that there are rules. Quinn suppresses the urge to look back at Puck, who she knows is rolling his eyes right about now.

"Of course there are," Quinn says. She takes a deep breath before she continues, "I—I'm _sorry_ about before." She has to force the word out of her mouth, and she hears Puck snort behind her, but she knows she has to do this. She was lost and scared and acted recklessly, so she puts on her big girl boots and admits it.

Shelby looks at her and sighs before replying, "I'm," she pauses, which makes Quinn wonder what she's going to say, "I'm _sorry_ as well." Quinn's eyes go round in shock, and when she looks back at Puck, she notices he's not looking at the floor. He casts a glance at the floor, shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs his shoulders before replying, "Yeah, me too."

Quinn's grateful that they've all managed to clear the air. They've all got a million things to apologize to each other for, but if this is going to work, they're going to have to start anew, and put the past in the past. She clears her throat before asking, "This isn't going to be weird, is it, I mean, if it is, Puck and I can get a place in the city, or…"

"No," Shelby interrupts her, which she's grateful for because there's no way they could afford a place in Hartford, and her scholarship didn't cover living expenses. Her mom might be able to use the alimony to help her, but it wouldn't be much. She's startled out of her thoughts when she hears a voice.

"I meant what I said," Shelby continues, "I want you to be a part of this family."

She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and hears Puck sigh behind her.

"Spare rooms are down the hall—second doors on the right and left. Bathroom's the first door on the left, master bedroom's the first door on the right and Beth's room is at the end of the hall. She's taking a nap, but it's almost time to wake her. Why don't you guys get settled before taking care of that?"

Quinn looks up, surprised.

"That's it," Puck blurts out.

"We'll talk more after dinner," Shelby replies before heading out of the living room and into the kitchen.

Puck looks at Quinn, and she knows her surprise must be written all over her face, but she can't help it. She grabs her stuff and hears Puck follow with his own stuff. She takes the spare room on the right, letting Puck have the one next to the bathroom and starts getting settled. She unpacks a few things before heading across the hall to knock on Puck's door, but he comes out before she can.

"Ready," she asks him. He has a soft smile on his face and he nods his head in affirmation. They walk down the hall before opening the door and there's their little girl sitting up in her crib. Quinn picks her up gently, but her heart immediately falls when Beth fidgets in her arms and starts crying. Puck tells her to use up and down motions because they're soothing, and not to take it personally because Beth's just hungry. Quinn's about to snap back at him that she _knows_ Beth's hungry, but when the up and down motions seem to quiet Beth down, all Quinn can do is smile at Puck in gratitude. He's smirking at her with a look that screams _'I told you so_' that Quinn just wants to slap right off his face. Instead, she just hugs Beth fiercely before passing her off to him, and when she sees the look in his eyes, she has to remind herself of all the reasons they'll never work together as a couple. They walk down the hall and Puck gets Beth settled in her high chair while Quinn helps set the table.

They all sit down to have a very cordial dinner with Beth giggling among them. Shelby asks Quinn about Yale and Puck asks Shelby about her new teaching job. He also states he'll start looking for a job tomorrow, which Quinn and Shelby both agree is a good idea. There's a calm domestic vibe around the table, but the atmosphere is tense due to the unavoidable and necessary conversation they need to have. They clean up after dinner and finally get Beth to tire out, which Shelby admits is easier to do with two other people to help, which is what starts the conversation. Before anyone can realize what's happening, they're all shouting at each other. Puck and Shelby are screaming at each other causing Quinn to come to Puck's defense. First, she's screaming at Shelby for taking advantage of Puck, despite the fact that Quinn knows he wasn't entirely innocent in the matter. She then directs her attention to Puck and starts yelling about how important it was not to screw things up. Puck looks shocked, and she kind of hates herself for yelling the exact words she knew he wouldn't want to hear, but they all have things to get off their chests. Before she knows it, Puck's yelling back at her and she's hearing things like _'hot sauce'_ and _'books_' and she's fighting back tears. When Shelby tries to mediate, they both lash out at her for taking their child and all sorts of emotions are coming out until they've all finally said their peace.

They're all sprawled across the couch in various states of distress. Their eyes are red from crying, and their voices are hoarse from yelling, and they're completely out of breath. Quinn reaches over to take Puck's hand, and her other hand gently approaches Shelby's. When Shelby meets her halfway, Quinn smiles, and says "I'm surprised we didn't wake Beth."

Shelby smiles back at her before responding, "She could sleep through an earthquake. She doesn't even wake up during thunderstorms."

Before Puck can make a comment about how his little badass isn't afraid of anything, Quinn tells Shelby that Puck's mom told her Puck was the same way as a kid. This of course leads to Puck to vigorously proclaim his prior thoughts. They're laughing and joking around and telling stories about their childhoods, leading them to talk about Beth. Quinn's surprised when Shelby asks them what they want for her, but they're adamant in their responses—that they only want what's best for her. Shelby is Beth's mother, and she gets to decide how to raise her, but Shelby tells them that that's not how this is going to work. So, they all come up with rules for Beth and for each other, and by the time it's two in the morning, they're surprised at what's been accomplished. As far as dating goes, no one brings anyone home to meet Beth unless everyone agrees. Puck plans on getting a night job, so someone can be with Beth during the day when school starts back up. They'll eventually have to decide on a nice pre-school for her. When Quinn and Puck try to bring up rent, Shelby mentions that the house is paid for, thanks to an uncle of hers who passed away. They want to argue, but Shelby insists that that's not why they're here. They're here for Beth, and what's best for Beth is to have everyone around.

They bid each other good night before heading to bed. Quinn smiles to herself while she's lying in bed, and thinks about how far she's come.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** More than a Lima Loser  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 3,828  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Puck, Quinn, Shelby  
><strong>Pairing(s): <strong>past Puck/Quinn, past Shelby/Puck  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Friendship  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K+ for now? (I don't know how to write _those_ scenes, so if you're looking for porn, you've come to the wrong place.)  
><strong>Warnings: <strong>Unbetaed, feel free to correct any grammatical or syntactical errors  
><strong>Summary:<strong> This is their weird messed up family now.  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> umm, up to and including 3x12, just to be safe?

**Author's Note: **I guess this turned out to be more than a one shot. Inspiration struck. I'm trying to see if I can get all my ships in before canon ruins everything about my fic. Like I said before, I ship weird couples, so if that's not your cup of tea, then don't complain when they show up later. I forewarned who they were.

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine.

* * *

><p>Puck ends up working the night shift at some firm selling paper to people over the phone and he pretty much hates it. He comes home around 5:00 from a particularly exhausting day, well night, and heads to his room. He grabs his guitar and just starts playing. He grabs a note pad and starts writing. He doubts any of it is any good, but at least his biggest fan will laugh and smile when he plays it for her later.<p>

~PKQSMSFW~

Quinn and Shelby wake up in the morning and get Beth ready. Shelby kisses Beth goodbye before heading out at the door at seven in the morning. Quinn plays with Beth, feeds her, and plays some more until it's 10:00, when she wakes Puck up. She leaves Beth a kiss before heading off to class as well. Puck plays Mr. Mom, and gets exactly the reaction he expected when he sings to Beth. He feeds her lunch before they play some more. Then it's the middle of the afternoon, and he and Beth are both napping. Quinn gets home first and studies until Beth's crying interrupts her. Shelby comes home around 4:30 to a sleeping Puck, a playing Beth, and a Quinn who's started on dinner. After dinner, they all watch Beth, while Quinn studies, and Shelby grades papers. At 9:30 Puck heads out to go to work, kissing Beth goodnight. To outside eyes, it's a pretty crazy schedule, but for them it's a routine that works.

~PKQSMSFW~

At the end of the semester, during the holidays, Quinn makes an announcement to the family. She smiles at her mom, who has a glass of wine in her hand before looking at Beth, who's sitting in Danielle's lap. Eve is sitting next to Danielle looking at Beth in the way only a grandmother can. Puck's standing behind his mom and sister making sure they don't squish Beth to death, when he notices Quinn standing in front of them.

"What's up, Quinn?"

"I have an announcement," she says. She's glad she waited until Shelby's parents left to do this because she knows what they think of her and Puck, and she can only imagine their responses to what she's about to say.

"I'm changing my major."

Shelby's smiling at her from her seat between Danielle and Judy, and Quinn has never been more grateful.

"Cool," Danielle exclaims from behind Beth, who's clapping her hands and making cheering noises that sound something like, "yay, yay, yay!" Quinn knows Beth has absolutely no idea what she's talking about, but her heart flutters anyway, and her little girl gives her the confidence to continue.

"Drama sucks! It's like working with a bunch of 'Rachel's,' which is a total nightmare, and I don't get to sing, and I don't like it and I took a Psych course this semester, and I loved it and I just figured, it was worth pursuing. It won't cost anything, and my scholarship's still intact, and—"

"Sucks! Sucks!"

Quinn's eyes go wide as she backtracks over her words in her head, and when she looks up, she realizes she has four pairs of eyes glaring in her direction while Danielle is just giggling away.

"Um, oops…?"

"OOPS! OOPS!"

They're all laughing at Beth now, which causes Quinn more than a sigh of relief. When she gets words of encouragement from four different people at different points throughout the night, she realizes that she had no reason to think they'd be anything but supportive.

~PKQSMSFW~

At the end of the school year, Puck tells Quinn and Shelby he picked up a second job. He's working as a waiter for a few hours a night, because a guy at work has a friend who owns a restaurant, and is short-staffed. It's for a couple of hours and it's not far from the office, so, Puck just heads out right after dinner instead of later at night. Shelby and Quinn are supportive as long as he's sure he's not burning himself out. Puck scoffs at the idea, he's Puck, after all. So their routine is adjusted a little, but it still works fine.

~PKQSMSFW~

In the middle of the summer, Shelby introduces them to a man she's been dating, but he never actually ends up meeting Beth. It was Shelby's decision, but Quinn and Puck are more than relieved for selfish reasons. They know Shelby wouldn't kick them out of Beth's life, but if Shelby has someone to play 'Dad,' in her happy family, she might start to wonder why she would need them around at all. Also, they don't need anyone disrupting the routine.

~PKQSMSFW~

Quinn's sitting at the dining table staring into space one Saturday in the late afternoon when she hears the key in the door. She doesn't look up to see who it is, but she hears the fridge door open and close. When she looks up, she finds Puck sitting in the seat across from her drinking out of a Coke can. He looks a little worse for wear, and she wonders if the extra shifts at the restaurant have been taking their toll on him.

He sets the can down and looks at her, before asking, "What's up?"

She responds half-heartedly, and slightly robotically, "I have a date."

He frowns. They've all had dates before, no one ever manages to meet Beth, but he doesn't know why she's all twisted up about it. Maybe she wants him to meet Beth. That thought causes something to clench inside Puck's stomach, but he crushes it down. He's had a long day: that test was a beast, and he thinks he did well, but he won't know until he can check his scores online in about a month.

"It's with a girl."

He looks up at her when he finally registers what he heard.

"Oh," he responds, "huh, since when are you—"

"I don't know," she interrupts, "She's smart and nice and pretty and funny, and she asked me out, and before I could get the words, 'Sorry I'm straight' out of my mouth, the words 'Sure, I'll meet you at seven' came out."

He smiles at her ranting because he knows she's freaking out. He doesn't really know what to tell her considering he's never been good at the whole comforting thing, so he tells her what the shrink his probation officer sent him to in high school told him.

"Why don't you stop worrying about labels and just do what comes naturally to you? You don't have to figure things out right now. You obviously like this chick or you wouldn't have said yes, so take it one step at a time."

She looks at him with a confused expression on her face before stating, "That's oddly…insightful?"

'_What the hell,_' Puck thought. He was trying to be helpful but if this is the reaction it gets him, then why should he bother. He doesn't need this, especially not today, so he just looks at her and replies sarcastically, "Thanks."

She realizes the implications of her comment and stops him from leaving the table with a hand on his arm.

"I didn't mean—I just meant—well, how would you know?" That came out a lot more offensive than she had intended it to, but she wasn't going to take it back because she wanted answers. When she realized he hadn't said anything, she asked again.

Puck sighed before he sat back down. He knew this was coming eventually.

"I just do," he says before he stares at her hoping he doesn't have _talk_ now.

She looks at him like she's trying to see into his soul, and sometimes he hates that she changed her major because she's always inside his head and it frustrates him.

"Look, it's not something I advertised in high school, and out here, I haven't found anyone I want to introduce to Beth, so it doesn't really matter."

She looks at him for a second before she replies softly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

When he sees the hurt expression on her face, he feels a bit guilty.

"It never came up."

She sighs to herself. She wants to be there for him, but it's hard when he doesn't open up to her. She's gotten better at reading him, but it doesn't help when he doesn't say much.

"So is it just one or both or…" she trails off as she looks up at him smirking at her discomfort.

"I'm bi."

"Oh," Quinn replies while nodding her head as if she agrees with him, then she smirks, at him, "So who—"

"Nuh-uh. Nope. Conversation's over," he says while getting up, but before he can get too far, she grabs his arm and drags him back to the table.

"Finn," she questions, before laughing at look of horror on his face.

"Sam?"

"Nah, but I'm pretty sure I can blame his mouth for starting the whole thing."

She giggles in response before she says, "You know he and Mercedes are still together? She and I still talk on Facebook."

"Good for them, never thought they'd be the couple that would last coming out of high school." He smiles before continuing, "My money would have been on Chang-squared," and this time when he pauses, his smile turns sort of wistful before he says, "Or Kurt and the hobbit."

She giggles at his nickname for Blaine, before she says, "Not Finn and Rachel?"

He snorts a laugh and replies, "Yeah, right. Finn and Schue are both awful with women they should just give up altogether."

She laughs at that before responding, "Well, out of all the people you just listed, I'm sure they're the only ones who keep in touch."

When Puck frowns at her in confusion, she continues, "Mike and Tina broke up midway through Mike's freshman year. She and Artie gave it another go before they broke up too. I think she's dating some guy from one of her classes. You know Finn's taking care of the garage, while Mr. Schue's still teaching at McKinley. He and Ms. Pillsbury never managed to tie the knot. Finally," she pauses because she noticed the wistful smile on his face when he was talking about Kurt and Blaine, "Kurt broke up with Blaine before graduation." She watches his expression for any signs of surprise, but sees none. She understands when he responds.

"I know, Finn told me back then. He told me they broke up for the same reasons he and Rachel did."

"Is that why you never…?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

He passes the rest of his coke to her to finish. She looks at it with a frown and scrunches her nose at it until she remembers she has a date tonight…with Gaby. As the thought crosses her mind, she grabs the can and downs the rest of it one go. When she burps, Puck laughs at her, and she realizes things will be fine.

~PKQSMSFW~

She and Gaby don't last very long, but she's okay with that. She eventually makes sure to tell Shelby about her revelation though, and she makes sure Shelby knows about Puck too. Shelby just smiles and makes a point of reminding her that the rules about Beth haven't changed. She smiles in response and says, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

~PKQSMSFW~

Their routine is working fine until January of sophomore year. While she's heading home, her thoughts wander to Beth's birthday. She's turning four in a few months, which means they'll have to find a pre-school for her soon. Her heart clenches at the thought of her little girl growing up so fast. She's also worried about Puck. His entire day revolves around their kid, and he works hard, but he hates the job at the paper firm. She always sees him in a good mood after he comes home from the restaurant, though. It makes her think he's got some kind of dream to be a chef. She knows he would have told her about _that_, though, so she lets go of that thought. When she gets home, she checks the mail, and is surprised to find three letters in the mail addressed to Puck. She's shocked when she notices where they're from. She heads into the house to find Beth and Puck asleep as usual. She wants to study, but her mind won't shut off. It's not as if she can open the letters, they're not hers, but she wants to so much. She eventually gets Beth up and starts dinner, but her mind keeps wandering to the letters on the kitchen counter. She's still staring at them when Shelby comes through the door.

"Hey, what are you…" Shelby trails off as she sees Quinn staring at the mail. Beth is sitting on the counter with her coloring book and Shelby gives her a kiss before she sifts through the mail on the counter.

"Bill, bill, bill, junk, junk, for Puck from—," she stops mid-sentence and looks up at Quinn. "Do you know what this says?"

Quinn shakes her head in response, and says "There are more."

She watches Shelby's eyes widen as she looks at the other two envelopes. "When did he—"

"I don't know."

During Shelby and Quinn's stilted conversation, dinner is burnt, and they decide to just order pizza. Puck wakes up right before the doorbell rings.

"Sweet, pizza!"

Shelby puts Beth down, and she runs over and attaches herself to Puck's leg, while shouting "Daddy's up! Daddy's up!" He lifts her off the ground. He remembers the day she first said that word, and his heart clenches in his chest. He kisses her forehead before tossing her up in the air feeling nothing but joy in the sound of her laughter. Quinn's watching the scene and her thoughts drift back to earlier when she was worried about how Beth going to pre-school would affect Puck. She looks back at the letters on the counter and realizes she didn't need to worry about him after all. Shelby puts the pizza on the dining table, and Quinn heads to the kitchen to grab plates. She stops in front of the refrigerator to look at the drawing Beth drew of the four of them. It's the worst picture of her that's ever been taken, but it's her absolute favorite. She doesn't care that her hair's a mess or that her nose is red or that her shoes don't match her outfit. She looks at the cartoon versions of Puck and Shelby and finds herself staring at a kid with a mohawk. When Puck comes into the kitchen and asks her what's taking so long, she finds her eyes wet. When he asks what's wrong, she responds by wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. He returns the hug, and when she pulls away he's looking at her with a confused expression on his face. She grabs four plates from the cupboard and heads back to the dining table. He looks confused at the glances she keeps sending him over dinner, but he's even more confused by the glances he's getting from Shelby. He focuses on Beth instead who's telling him all sorts of stories about dragons and he smiles at her imagination.

When Beth finally goes to sleep, Puck finally looks at Shelby and Quinn and asks "Okay, what is going on?"

Quinn walks over to the counter and grabs the letters before handing them over to Puck while stating, "These came in the mail today." When he sees what they are his stomach twists itself into knots. He opens the first two and smiles at himself. He pauses before opening the third one.

Shelby asks him, "Why didn't you tell us," in a hurt voice. She sounds exactly like Quinn did that day at the dining table and that just makes Puck feel guilty. Quinn doesn't need him to respond, she knows that if he told them, they'd get excited, and he'd feel awful if he was disappointed. If he doesn't tell anyone, there's no one to disappoint. She knows Shelby's upset because it sort of breaks the rule where they have to talk about anything that may affect the routine or Beth in anyway, but she understands why he did it.

Puck shrugs his shoulders in response.

"Aren't you going to open the last one," Quinn asks him.

"No," he says, "Doesn't matter. I didn't get in anyway. I just wanted to see if I could. Besides, Goodwin and Southern are close, and NYU isn't. NYU probably won't take into account my classes at Gateway either, so…" he trails off and when he looks up he finds them staring at him in shock. He looks back at them sheepishly, before replying, "So, uh, I didn't get a second job at a restaurant. I was taking night classes, and I took a few courses over the summer. Turns out I might actually be interested in making a difference. I was thinking about social work, and—"

Quinn doesn't let him finish before she's ripping the letter out of his hand and opening it herself. Before he can snatch it back, she has a smile on her face as wide as a mile and she's squeezing him so hard she's cutting off his oxygen supply. When Shelby picks up the letter, and reads it, she joins the hug. Puck lasts ten seconds before replying, "Can't…breathe…" They laugh before letting him go. When he reads the letter he has a shocked expression on his face accompanied by a smile, "I got in…" Shelby responds with "Congratulations, Noah. You really deserve it. Now we can talk about how this will affect our routine." Puck looks up sharply at that and states in a cold voice that Quinn hasn't heard since senior year of high school, "What are you talking about? I'm not actually _going_." Quinn looks confused for a moment before she remembers what he said earlier about Goodwin and Southern being _close_. Shelby raises an eyebrow at him and says, "What do you mean you're not going? Of course you're going! This is a great opportunity for you and—"

Puck interrupts her before she can give him the whole spiel about his future and whatnot, "I told you, I just wanted to see if I could. Now I know."

"Bullshit."

Puck and Quinn are looking at Shelby like she's grown a second head.

"You wouldn't have applied if you didn't want to go."

"I _told _you, I just wanted to see if could!"

"And I told _you_, _Bullshit_!"

"Stop staying that! I'm not just going to move to another state when there are perfectly good colleges _near_ my _kid_!" He's pretty much screaming now, and Quinn knows it's a touchy subject for him, but he needs to lower his voice.

Shelby's face softens and she speaks gently but firmly, "Noah, we can work around that."

He slams his fist against the table before shouting, "NO! Okay, you grew up with two parents! You had a privileged life. Beth doesn't need to feel like I – like I," he stops and takes breath before he continues in a broken voice, "Like I abandoned her!"

He wishes he hadn't said that because he can't stand the way Shelby and Quinn are looking at him right now. Shelby tries to continue talking sense into him, "Noah, it's a two hour trip by car and three hours by train; that's not that bad, you'll see Beth constantly. She'll be starting pre-school soon anyway."

"Exactly! Right now, she spends the whole day with me; if I'm out of the state, then it's going to be a huge adjustment going from that to barely seeing me on nights and weekends."

Shelby looks up at Quinn in exhaustion, "Maybe we should just call his mom."

Quinn suppresses her laughter and interrupts Puck, who's sputtering in shock at the fact that Shelby would stoop so low.

"Why didn't you apply to Yale," Quinn asks.

Shelby smiles at the suggestion, while Puck rolls his eyes.

"Quinn, I _barely_ graduated, and I have a _juvenile record_. A few junior college courses, experience making phone calls, and a couple of essays about how much I've grown aren't going to get me into an _Ivy-League_ school."

She smirks at him before responding, "You're record's clear, thanks to a couple of months cleaning up trash off the highway," he scowls at her, but she continues undeterred, "and it wouldn't hurt to apply, right, just to 'see if you can get in?'"

He scowls at her again for using his words against him.

"Fine."

The next day he gets chewed out by his mom and his Nana Connie, and his sister leaves him a voicemail in a singsong voice, "Mama and Nana are maaa-aaad. What did you do?"

~PKQSMSFW~

When the rejection letter comes in March, he crumples it up and tosses it in the trash before playing another song for Beth. She's laughing along and presses a hand against his face, and says "What's wrong, Daddy?"

'_Great,'_ Puck thought, _'I can't even fool my own kid_.'

"Nothing, Monkey-Face," Puck replies with a sigh, "Are you excited about school?" Quinn and Shelby had a bunch of pre-school interviews lined up for her in the next few weeks. She'd probably get into all of the fancy ones considering his kid was a genius.

"Yes," she exclaims so happily.

"You know you'll spend the whole day at school instead of with me, right?"

"Uh-huh! I'll get to play with other kids like me, like Ashley, and Daniel," she states, referencing the kids from the playgroup they decided to place her in. Puck smiled at his kid. She was growing up so fast that eventually she wasn't going to need him anymore. His heart clenched at the thought.

"You won't miss your old man at all, will you?"

Beth looked back at Puck and smiled, "I'll miss you, Daddy, I love you. Don't be sad. You can go to school like Mommy and me, and make friends! "

Puck smiled at Beth. A three hour train ride all the way down to New York and then a three hour ride back. Maybe he could schedule his classes two days a week like Quinn did that one semester. He didn't want to give up his kid, but he didn't want to sacrifice his dreams either, especially when he actually felt passionate about something for the first time in his life. He runs his hand along Beth's curly blond hair and smiles when she demands, "Sing, Daddy!" He picks his guitar back up before he starts playing because who is he to deny his one and only fan.

When Shelby and Quinn get home later, he finds himself in another one of those weird hugs when he tells them he's going to NYU.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note 2:<strong> So, in case you guys didn't understand: The test Puck was talking about was the SAT, and he didn't take a second job as a waiter, he was taking community college classes. Also, I have nothing against NYU, I know it's an amazing school, and that Puck is likely to have failed a few classes in high school, but the show was being so mean to him earlier, so I wrote this to give him a _happy_ ending. I suppose I should put unrealistic in the Warnings...

Thanks for reading!


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